The Final Strife

A land where the color of one’s blood determines their race and class is the setting for El-Arifi’s novel that feels like it’s part Hunger Games mixed with elements of magic. There are three classes in the Warden’s Empire: the Embers, the ruling class with their red blood; the Dusters, the working class with their blue blood; and the Ghostings, the slaves of the empire with their clear blood. Against this backdrop, the empire is preparing for the Day of Descent, when the wardens of the previous 10 years cede control to their disciples, and the Day of Ascent, when a new set of disciples is chosen following a 6-month set of trials that gradually weeds out competitors until only one remains per discipline.

Of course, the competition is only open to Embers, and our main character Sylah is a blue-blooded Duster, at least as far as anyone knows. But she harbors a secret: her blood runs red. 18 years ago, a shadow rebellion group called The Sandstorm carried out what came to be called “The Night of the Stolen”, where they swapped 12 red-blooded Ember babies with 12 blue-blooded Duster babies, stealing the Ember children and raising them as Dusters and, more importantly, creating a secret group of highly trained youths focused on one thing: winning the Day of Ascent trials and infiltrating the Ember-controlled government.

The best sci-fi and fantasy serves as a vehicle for exploring our own world, and the commentary on class and prejudice in The Final Strife is really well done. The plot is engaging, the characters memorable, and the writing beyond what I would expect from a debut novel. It’s worth a read.